


Cat Legends

by Vaniilini



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Cat legends, Fan Adventure, Fluff and Crack, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3263957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaniilini/pseuds/Vaniilini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why did he care so much about cats? He was the son of the rich Nightray family and they only owned dogs. Even if Elliot was one of the four highest ranking houses in Réveille, he wasn't a snob like the others and was friends with me, a simple student. Elliot and I have known each other since childhood and the days with him were guaranteed to be never boring.</p><p>A story in which Leo gets cursed by Cheshire, a cat demon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cat Legends

It was one of those boring, rainy school days in the Lutwidge Academy. Bored, I listened to the teacher, as he talked about my _favorite subject_ : Legends! And to my luck, he didn’t talk about any old legends that everyone knows, he talked about cat legends! It was at least the last hour before I could devote myself to the "Holy Knight" books, because I knew that the latest volume was finally available in the library today!

"Man this is boring ..." I sighed and got a shocked look from my seat neighbor and friend Elliot.

"Are you crazy Leo?! How can you say such a thing," He whispered, but I heard that he sounded indignant.

"Oh come on ... do you honestly believe this nonsense? There isn’t something like cat demons!" I replied, laughing softly. Elliot said nothing more to it and just looked at me angrily before he turned back to the lesson.

"You'll see ..." He grumbled to me and I rolled my eyes.  
Why did he care so much about cats? He was the son of the rich Nightray family and they only owned dogs. Even if Elliot was one of the four highest-ranking houses in Réveille, he wasn’t a snob like the others and was friends with me, a simple student. Elliot and I have known each other since childhood and the days with him were guaranteed to be never boring.  
Finally the bell rang and I was glad to finally get away from the lesson and the boring classes. Finally away from this cat demon stuff! Whoever would believe in such old legends?

"Say Leo, do you like cats?" Elliot asked out of the blue, when we were on our way to our rooms after a long school day.  
"What? Why are you asking me that?” I asked Elliot confused.

He wouldn't really ask something about this at all and I was surprised that he had asked a question about cats!

"Well I don’t hate them ... but… I don’t love them either", I replied after a while, after I thought about the question.

"Oh ..." Elliot simply said.

"What about you?” I asked him.

"Excuse me?"

"Well if you like cats," I asked him.

"Well, um ... I join in your opinion," He simply said and I raised an eyebrow.

" _This is certainly a lie ... but why did he lie to me_?" I wondered in thoughts. 

"And ... well ... do you actually believe in the legends that we have discussed in class?" I asked him then.

"Well ... there are just legends," Elliot only said, clearly trying to avoid my questions.

"Elliot you don’t really believe in this nonsense right? Those are just fairy tales! Such a thing as evil demons isn't real!" I shouted, which made Elliot angry again.

"What do you know about demons?! My family has believed in them for hundreds of generations and when they believe in demons, I'll do that too!" Elliot yelled back and I took a deep breath.

"Do you even have your own opinion? Are you doing everything that others do? Honestly Elliot, you're just naive and pathetic! Not only that you believe in this crap, no you always believe in what others think is right! But what about your own opinion? Do you have one?" I yelled at Elliot and immediately regretted what I said. I usually didn't loose my temper so soon, but this time I went too far and I could clearly see it in his eyes. He looked upset.

"So you think ... I am naive and pathetic ..." Elliot said with a dark voice.  
"Elliot ... I ... that -"

"If that’s so, I don’t have to tell you that you can go back to the books where you belong to!" He grumbled, interrupting me. His eyes flashed with anger as he briefly looked into my eyes (which were hidden behind my long hair and glasses), then he turned around and left.

"Elliot ..." I said softly and felt really terrible. 

I didn't want to throw all those words against his head! Feeling too miserable to do anything, I had no desire to go to the library, and it was also raining and didn't look as if it would stop soon. Slowly, I trudged to my room and was kind of glad I didn't have to deal with Elliot now, because our rooms were next to each other. I sighed and closed the door as I entered my room. It was pitch dark and just a flash of lightning briefly illuminated the area.

" _Hehehe_ ..." suddenly a deep voice laughed and I looked scared around, but because it was so dark I couldn't see anything. Only another flash that lit up the room showed me the figure that looked at me with a glowing red eye. It looked like a human, but I could clearly see the protruding cat ears and the glowing red cat's eye, which shone in the dark. The figure was somewhat distorted, its mouth was warped to a strange grin and it showed sharp teeth. A sudden pain made me collapse to the ground and I curled into a ball. The pain felt like I was burning and I just groaned and gasped.

" _So~ does it hurt a lot?" the shape asked maliciously and its voice sounded very melodic_.

I couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man, because it was too dark. Also, the voice gave no indication whether it was a woman or a man.

" _Nyahaha ... So you do not believe in evil spirits and demons? What a pity! Then I have to do something about it huh?_ "

"P ... please ... s…st…stop…" I begged in severe pain and writhed more.

" _Stop? Even though it is so much fun to torture you now nya?” The shape asked, evilly laughing._

"Do you even know who I am, huh?"  
"Y... you ... a ... are ... a ... cat demon" I gasped, because the pain was getting worse.

" _Nyaha you got it how nice! Then I may as well start with my punishment! From now on ... you're a small, measly cat! Alone you shall never be able to break my curse!_ " The figure hissed and suddenly the pain was so strong that I lost consciousness. _I felt like I was falling into the darkness and I saw Elliot turning away from me. I wanted to shout, but no voice was coming out of my throat as I fell and fell further into the darkness._

When I woke up, the sun was shining on my face. I remembered something awful and wondered, if it was just a nightmare.

"What a dream ..." I muttered, trying to stand up and rub my eyes, but I felt somehow ... different. I felt small and a bit dizzy.

When I looked in the mirror, I realized why I felt so small and strange. Over night, I turned into a small black cat with shaggy hair and a pink ribbon around my neck!

"NYAAAAAAA?!" I shouted in shock.  
"I-I'm a cat! So that wasn't a dream! But why do I look like this? And ... and ... what about Elliot?” I wondered panicky.

I remembered that I had quarreled with Elliot, but I still wanted to know if he was also affected by the curse of the cat demon and the nightmare was still haunting my mind. I wanted to run out of the door and forgot that I wasn't able to even reach the door knob as a cat. Fortunately, the cat demon seemed to have left the window open. I quickly climbed onto the window sill and fell startled back on the bed. Everything looked so big and high now as a cat! It looked so terribly high, and although I didn't suffer from a fear of heights, I wasn't entirely at ease when I looked down to the ground.

"Pull yourself together, Leo! You can do it! Cats can do it and I am one now!" I said to encourage myself and walked carefully back to the window sill.

" _Don’t look down ... Just don’t look down!_ " I thought and managed to jump to the next window sill that belonged to Elliot's window.

His window was open, but when I jumped into it and I looked around the room, I found no trace of Elliot. Since the door was open, I thought that he was probably already gone out of his room and was probably on the way to his class. I left the room to go and look for him, only to be almost trampled over by a group of students!

"Nya can’t you look out where you are going?!" I grumbled, but of course the group ignored me because they couldn’t understand me.

Nevertheless, I was annoyed that I was overlooked. Then I tried to get out of the building, but the school was full with groups of students and I had to be extremely careful not to get trampled over. After what felt like eternity, I was finally outside, but I still had no idea where Elliot was. Panting, I lay on my stomach and cursed the Academy a little, because it was so big and had so many students who took no consideration for others. After I had rested a while, I got up and ran off to look for Elliot, but suddenly a carriage came out of nowhere and I jumped to the side at the last moment, in front of someone’s feet! When I looked up after the first shock to see who I fell in front of, I realized that it was Elliot! He looked down to me and as he knelt down beside me, I closed my eyes in fear, because I knew that Elliot's temperament could sometimes go through him and he wouldn’t even hold back himself at animals! But Elliot caressed my ears lovingly and took me gently into his arms.

"That was very close! You must watch better where you're going!” Elliot said reproachfully, but looked at me lovingly.

Now I was really surprised because I had never seen this side of Elliot before. And I also didn’t know that he liked cats! What a coincidence ... but maybe he could help me to break the curse that weighs upon me! But how should I convince him to do that? Elliot couldn’t understand me anymore...  
Gently, he let me down on the way and caressed my ears lovingly. I had to admit that I kind of liked this Elliot a lot more than the one I've known for years. I purred contentedly and snuggled into his hand.

"Haha you're really sweet. Unfortunately I have to go now" Elliot said, and stood up.

"No, wait!" I called after him, and Elliot looked at me sadly.  
"I don’t understand what you want to tell me ... I'm sorry" Elliot mumbled, and turned around.

"You have to help me, please!" I called again and jumped on his shoulder.

Elliot was not prepared for that and dropped the book he held in his hand. Why hadn’t I noticed before that he was carrying a book? And it was also one that I needed!

"Hey what is wrong with you!?" Elliot exclaimed angrily and let me somewhat roughly to the ground.

He then wanted to pick up the book that fell open to the ground, but I kept Elliot from that, as I held my paw into the open book because the subject was about curses and how one could undo them!

"Wait ... a cat that wants to look into a book?" Elliot said confused.

"Not just any cat you idiot!" I snapped back at him and Elliot began to laugh in amusement.  
"I may not know what you said right now, but your hissing makes me understand that I probably hurt you somehow. Wait ... now I'm already talking with a cat! Just incredible ... but you understand me right?" Elliot asked.

"And you have noticed that now?" I replied tartly and nodded my head so that Elliot would see that I understood him.

"I can’t believe it ... you really understand me!" Elliot exclaimed in astonishment.

Shaking my head, I turned back to the book and looked at it more closely, while Elliot silently watched me, which made me a little nervous.

"Say ... if you understand me, you can surely answer some questions, right? So if you do, then meow once for yes and stay silent for no?" Elliot suggested.

"All right, all right," I said annoyed, sat patiently in front of Elliot and looked at him.

"Well let's start ... Are you really a real cat?”

I remained silent and just looked at Elliot.

"Well ... So are you cursed?”

"Yes Elliot!" I cried.

"You’re under a curse ... So then you're actually a human?"

"Yeeeees!" I replied annoyed back.

"And now you are looking for a way back to return back to human?"

"Yes, yes, yes and yes!" I cried happily, but I wondered at the same time how Elliot knew all this. 

"Then I have just one last question ... Can I help you with that? Even though I don’t know you, I don’t want you to stay as a cat forever. So ... can I help you?" Elliot asked, but I got the feeling that Elliot knew who I was. I remembered how he grumbled that “I’ll see” something, so was he responsible that I turned into a cat? I didn’t know yet and the only possibility to find out was to break the curse first and ask him about it once I returned back to a human.

"Yes I would like you to help me!" I cried happily and snuggled closer to Elliot. It wasn’t so bad to be treated so nicely by Elliot as a cat, I thought.

"I take this as a yes!" Elliot laughed and stroked my ears affectionately. "First we have to find out by whom or what you were cursed. You can certainly tell me right?"

"Yes I can!" I purred and tried to turn the pages in the book that still lay flipped open on the ground, but that was quite difficult with the cat paws, but fortunately Elliot helped me.

He turned the pages, while I looked at the subjects until I found what I was looking for! I quickly held my paw between the pages that Elliot was about to turn.

"Did you find anything?" He asked and looked at what I had found. " _Cat demon_ ... you became cursed by a cat demon?” Elliot asked and I meowed.

"I see ... So the book says that cat demons always carry something with them that belongs to the victim who has been cursed. In most cases, these items were turned into small bells that the cat demon always wears with him. If these bells are touched by the cursed person, he or she turns back, but these bells are not easy to get, because the cat demon guards them like a treasure." Elliot read. "But it doesn’t say where we are able to find the cat demon. Well at least we know something." He sighed and picked me and the book up.

"Let's go to the library, maybe we will find more information there." He decided and went with me on the arm to the library.

Somehow, he also managed to smuggle me past the receptionist, because animals weren’t allowed in the library. When we finally found some books about demons, we spent hours after hours on trying to find a clue.  
"I got it!" Elliot shouted enthusiastically and showed me the book, where he sat on for a long time. "It says that cat demons always stay close to the place where they have cursed their last victim at night! This means that the demon might be somewhere around the school grounds! So that means we should go now ... are you ready?" Elliot asked as he looked outside.

We had spent the whole day in the library and now it was late in the evening. I didn’t answer him, but that was not necessary, because Elliot knew I was ready. 

"Oh wait, before we go I got something for you ..." Elliot said.

He untied the ribbon around my neck, put a little bell on it and tied my bow around my neck again.

"So I always know where you are," Elliot explained and gently stroked my head.

It was a very sweet gift, I couldn't deny that and I felt happy that he gave it to me. Then we made our way to the outside. We searched and searched, but found no sign of the cat demon. Slowly, I doubted that the cat demon was still here. We decided to separate and search the premises individually, when I suddenly heard the voice that I heard the night when I got cursed!

" _Nya ~ are you looking for me?"_

Quick as a flash I turned around and saw the demon in the face that cursed me. Now in the moonlight I could see the demon much better. He had huge paws and wore strange clothes; he had dark brown cat ears that were almost impossible to distinguish with his hair that had the same color. His hair covered the spot where his second eye should have been and the red eye I could see looked at me scornfully. And then I saw it, the bell which he wore around his neck.  
"You ..." I growled and the demon laughed.

"Yes me Cheshire! You're after me right? Well ... it’s your fault that you look like this now! And the bell here," the demon said whose name seemed to be Cheshire and pointed with his huge claw on the bell on his neck, "You won’t get it either! Because I'll extinguish you before that happens! I can not afford that you will become a human again!"

I dodged his attack just in time and if I hadn’t managed to do so, I could’ve died! Cheshire was fast and serious about his threat; he definitely wanted to kill me. Sometimes I also tried to attack him, but I barely reached him. Suddenly he rushed up to me while I was trying to get back on my feet after the last attack. I was too slow and couldn’t avoid it, so I made myself ready to take the hit and closed my eyes.

"NOOOO!" Suddenly someone shouted, and when I opened my eyes, I realized in horror that Elliot had thrown himself between me and Cheshire and defenselessly intercepted the attack! 

Cheshire threw him to the side, where Elliot stayed without moving a muscle. Was he still breathing? I couldn’t see it from where I was, but I hoped, no _prayed_ that he was still doing so.  
"Elliot!" I shrieked in horror and looked back to Cheshire, who stared at me with a hideous smirk on his face. "You ... how dare you! I will not let you hurt him even more!” I cried and with renewed strength, I ran towards Cheshire.  
I scratched him as best I could; I bit him over and over again. Cheshire tried to avoid me and tried to attack, but I gently landed on the ground, because I managed to see his attacks coming and dodged in time.  
"Crap ... I should not have turned you into a lucky cat ..." Cheshire gasped. " I've wasted enough time with you anyway." He simply grumbled and disappeared.

"Stop!" I cried and ran towards the spot where he disappeared, but there was nothing more. The bell was gone with him, which meant that I had to stay as a cat forever.

"No ..." I whispered shocked and fell to the ground. Then I suddenly remembered Elliot, who got hurt! With wobbly legs, I got up and trotted with hanging head, tail and ears to Elliot. I gently nudged him to see if he was okay and I felt relieved when I saw that Elliot was still breathing. He had a huge scratch on his chest and was bleeding, but the wound didn’t look all too dangerous. And after a while, he opened his blue eyes slowly and blinked at me in amazement.

"Oh ... it's you. Looks like you've saved me ..." Elliot muttered and gave me a weak smile.  
"Oh Elliot ..." I sighed sadly, licking his open hand.

"Why do you look so sad? Look what I have here!" Elliot grinned and opened his hand, which he had clenched into a fist. “You need it, right Leo? I told you that you shouldn’t talk bad about demons or this happens.”  
In his hand ... There was the bell that should turn me back to a human! I froze when he called me name though. So he really knew that it was me the whole time! I was about to say something but didn’t, since I was still a cat.  
Surprised, I looked at him, which made Elliot laugh.

"I have known for some time that you're Leo once I couldn’t find you in your room and after you forced me to read that book with you. Well ... in any case you can turn back to a human now, right?" Elliot grinned and gave me the bell.  
I touched it and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was a human again and held the bell in my hand as I helped Elliot to get up immediately after that.

“You could’ve just tell me how to undo the curse.” I pouted, but Elliot only laughed.

“Sorry, but I wanted you to learn a lesson. What’s the moral of this adventure, do you know?” He asked and I punched him playfully into his side.

"Yeah right ... From now on, I take legends seriously even if they sound totally absurd" I grinned and went back to the school to treat Elliot’s wound.

The bell, which Elliot had given me, was kept as proof that there really are demons and spirits and it also was a little memento that would always remind me of our little adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Cheshire is actually a "Bakeneko" and Leo a "Maneki-Neko". I replaced them with cat demon and lucky cat because I felt like it.


End file.
